Kampala to Jinja

Something small that amused me at the airport was that car park ticket machines did not work properly. So instead, the Ugandan people would give a man next to the machines their money, he would put it in the back of the machine and then gave them a ticket. Maybe you had to be there..

Once Andrew and the driver Richard picked me up from the airport, we drove to Kampala. It was a shame that I arrived at 11.30pm and therefore could not see the sights through the window as we drove. However we stayed in a hotel in Kampala until the morning so I was able to see Uganda as we traveled!

The hotel was apparently classed as 3/4 stars for Uganda, it had a flushing toilet, working and warm shower, and two beds with mosquito nets. Breakfast was lovely, a Spanish omelette lots of fruit and freshly made passion fruit juice.

We then set off for Jinja where I will be staying for the 3 months. It was SUCH an eye opener. Uganda is literally another world. The lifestyle is completely different to anything we know in the UK.

The roads are absolutely crazy, people overtake and swerve round each other, cars don't stay in single file in lanes, and everyone thinks its their right of way in every situation. Motorbikes are everywhere (bodas) which cos 1000 shillings for a ride to where you need to go which is about 25p...

People also use them to carry goods from place to place. This reaches extremes when huge boxes of jelly are stacked on a bike or even a king size bed!!!

To get a taxi into town is 12.5p which is slightly cheaper than £20 home from Manchester in England...

The roads are very dusty, a kind of orangey-brown colour. I particularly noticed that there were women with masks over their mouths, holding wooden sweeps, brushing the dusty roads. This seemed so pointless as there is just so much dist and as cars dangerously swerve around them the dust just comes back. They get paid something like £1 for a whole day of doing this, sweeping back and forward. It changes your views on what is a hard life and what is how we live in the UK. I would go out of my mind doing that all day and for such low wages.
I saw so many women carrying ridiculous sized bundles and objects on their heads, its amazing how they do it whilst turning their head to look around at the same time. Also loved spotting a few men in Arsenal tops here!

Oh and drove over the river Nile, will probably visit the source one day soon....

Trying to sell things through
car windows

  

River Nile